On countless occasions, those of us trying to highlight the abuse of horses in many of the Group VII countries have been told by breeders, sellers or riders involved in some way with these countries that the horses will all have fabulous retirement homes, 5* luxury, they know, they’ve seen them. The reality is different. There are no fields to retire horses to, there is no horse-friendly... read more

Somehow, this crazy idea we had to try and help one horse escalated into helping two, and they are now set safe with fans and ad lib food to help their recovery.
It’s heartwarming seeing their body language, their lack of tension, their doing what horses should do – standing relaxed and eating. Just being horses.
Miss has clearly suffered a lot of abuse when worked. His legs bear the... read more

The stories so far –
Saving Mississippi
The Road Out
The Wrong Horse
Finally, they arrive in quarantine. TWH, who is very tiny, was dragging his heels like an old man when he came off the truck but determined to go into the stable. They’re cheered by a pretty filly in the opposite box!
TWH was so tired that he lay down very quickly on his nice fluffy bed. Miss is watching over him, they... read more

Researching the fate of horses sold for Endurance to the Group VII countries is soul-destroying and heart-rending, but absolutely necessary whilst there is no real duty of care given to the horses unlucky enough to have been sold there. It’s a reality that the money thrown at corrupt individuals participating and officiating within the sport allows unheralded abuse to go unpunished.
In 2014,... read more

We had been hoping that our trepidation concerning Miss still being for sale was unfounded, and that we had secured him with the chipping and passport vet visit. To be sure that all was in order, we asked the agency to send us all the paperwork they had received.
We saw this identification drawing.
Not only did Miss appear to have a new brand, he also appeared to have lost the PL 8 one by which... read more

5 April 17
We found this photograph on a dealer’s website, and managed to identify him from his shoulder brand.
10 April 17
A small collective of people began raising the funds to buy and move Miss, as we called him, to safety. We called in favours from those we have links to in the UAE and neighbouring Gulf states, the lengthy and complicated process of sorting the vet fees, paperwork, the... read more

Pine Lodge Mississippi is a 1998 NZ gelding, bred by Keith Galpin from the purebred Arabian Australian imports Bremervale Serena, and the sire Bremervale Legacy.
In 2001, Donna Fox went to Galpin’s stud to look for a riding horse, but he had nothing suitable. As chance would have it, Galpin was ‘passing by’ Donna’s place a few weeks later, and he had Miss on board, convinced that the... read more

Sounds like nonsense? If only.
When a horse is registered as a foal, that’s the passport he or she supposedly carries for life. There is no nod to future height, weight or build (rightly so), identification is based on the colour, markings (stars, socks, whorls etc) on the horse, and the microchip in the horse. What most horse owners don’t realise is that passports are not in place to... read more

Some information from a little birdie present at the 120km FEI Endurance ride at Royal Windsor yesterday suggest that nothing much has changed with the UAE mindset, and riders are still firmly digging in their heels regarding cleaning up their act.
On the plus side, there was no visible horse abuse. That’s to be expected given the ride was taking place in the UK and heavily scrutinized... read more

The current committee at ERF have made the difficult decision to call a halt to the hands-on section of the association. We have tried to find people committed enough to take this on, but have so far been unsuccessful. (If anyone reading this is interested in how to continue what we have been doing, please contact ERF on erfwelfare@gmail.com before the 7th of March. Time and expenses are... read more

These are the FEI current guidelines on controlled or prohibited substances. Click on the coloured sentences for the appropriate links.
This details responsibility, procedures and additional information
The 2016 Equine Prohibited Substances List
This link contains the search box which will determine the... read more

Apologies for this being a blog of links. There is so much information currently flying about that it’s easier to collate in one place.
The EEF have cancelled all races until the 11th February 2016 as a result external pressures from the rest of the world having viewed the appalling scenes and news of abused, exhausted and vanished horses coming from the Dubai ride at the weekend.... read more

Our handsome Hugo still needs to find a new home! He does do smiling, honestly, he was just sleeping in the sun!
He will be 21 in May, but is in great shape, and can be ridden. He is about 14hh.
His previous posts are below if you want to follow his progress with... read more

Please watch this video below.
This is the end of the 120 km Endurance ‘competition’ at Al Wathba in Dubai. FIVE riders were disqualified for beating horses. One rider/crew wasn’t reported in time for beating his horse, so wasn’t disqualified. There is no further punishment. This is difficult viewing, but it must be seen. One horse is reported as having sustained... read more

As has been documented elsewhere, despite the FEI short term suspension of the UAE in order for them to clean up their act, nothing has radically changed. At least 5 deaths so far this year. No information forthcoming on what happened to horses attributed the generic FTC, or horses that didn’t reach vet gates and are down as RET, or more remarkably horses that have sustained a... read more